Ladder related accidents of a user falling from the ladder typically result in serious injury, wherein serious injury happens in just over half (about 51%) the ladder accidents based on overall ladder injury statistics for the United States. In addition, in higher buildings with steeper pitched roofs the serious injury rate from ladder accidents increases to significantly over half (to about 69%), thus placing the upmost importance on ladder safety for users, as there is really not such a thing as a minor ladder accident, in fact according to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) the leading cause of workplace deaths are construction related falls of which ladders were involved most of the time.
Overall, based on a recent Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) ladder safety study, ladder related deaths and injuries accounted for almost 700 deaths annually, wherein ladder accidents have increased over 50% in the last decade due mostly to user neglect and negligence in four major areas being; (1) selecting the wrong ladder for the job, (2) using worn or damaged ladders, (3) incorrect use of ladders, and (4) incorrect placement of ladders. It is item (4), the incorrect placement of ladders that the present invention is concerned with, via controlling the base portion positioning of the ladder, as in most cases relying upon surface friction only as between the ladder base portion feet and the ground surface is risky at best. Further, from the CPSC data, the number one cause of ladder accidents at 40% was that the “ladder moved” followed by foot slip at 24%, and lost balance at 18%, after which no other cause of a ladder accident is greater than 4%, resulting that these first three causes of ladder accidents are the most important, thus the most important safety item to remedy is the “ladder moving” cause, which as referenced above alludes to using ladder foot to ground surface friction is a major risk.
The present invention is focused upon the “ladder moved” cause as being the most significant cause of ladder accidents, and specifically focusing on the roof to roof use of a ladder, wherein the ladder feet are on a lower roof with the ladder leaning against an upper roof margin or edge. Thus for the present invention, a special interface is needed to be developed to help secure the ladder foot to the lower roof, as opposed to penetrable ground anchors, also for the securing of the ladder foot to the lower roof, it is highly desirable to not have a permanently attached support due to the time and cost of installing a permanent support plus the maintenance risk of creating an opening in the roof that can become a future leak point from rain and snow.
In looking at the prior art in U.S. Pat. No. 6,089,350 to Hankins, disclosed is a ladder apparatus for anchoring an upright inclined ladder to the ground for preventing movement of the ladder away from a building structure wall, see FIG. 7, wherein an anchor is typically inserted into the ground, again see FIG. 7. The ladder apparatus in Hankins further hooks around the lowest rung of the ladder and the anchor is in the form of a wedge shaped portion that penetrates the ground between the ladder and the building structure wall that the ladder rests against. In Hankins, the anchor is pivotally foldable in relation to a lateral telescoping section that is laterally adjustable in length, further in Hankins the telescoping section diverges into a pair of “U” shaped section hooks that conform around the lowest rung of the ladder being retained via fasteners.
Continuing in the prior art in U.S. Pat. No. 7,093,689 to Poldmaa, disclosed is a ladder support bracket that receives an upper rung of a ladder intended to be placed against the gutter of a building roof and thus restraining the upper rung of the ladder while at the same time protecting the roof gutter from damage due to the ladder upper rung and to an upper portion of the ladder, see FIGS. 1 and 2. Further, in Poldmaa the ladder support bracket prevents the ladder from having lateral or downward movement along the gutter of the roof. The bracket in Poldmaa includes a first region for permanently affixing to a rigid portion of the building being most notably an area of the building roof adjacent to the roof gutter, a second region which spans the gutter, and a third region in the form of a cradle for receiving the rung of the ladder, see FIG. 2.
The ladder support bracket in Poldmaa preferably has the first region for fixing the bracket to a rigid portion of the building in the form of a relatively planar sheet like bracket which may be attached by suitable fasteners 22, such as screws or the like, to the rafters or other timber members of the roof support structure of the building, such as battens, this portion of the roof then being covered by the roofing material, whether tiles or metal roofing, again see FIG. 2. Note, that the Poldmaa bracket is permanently affixed to the house roof and provides a gutter based support for a ground based ladder with the purpose being primarily to protect the gutter from the ladder “lean to” loading and to help secure the ladder laterally further as there is no teaching in Poldmaa related to ladder base support.
Further, in the prior art in looking at United States Patent Application Publication Number 2010/0051384 to Currie, disclosed is a ladder stabilizer for securing a ladder to a penetrable ground surface. The stabilizer in Currie comprises of a rung holder channel and a substantially flat “tent type” spike having a pointed end for insertion into the ground. The spike in Currie is connected to the rung holder channel and extends towards the ground effectively “clamping down” on the bottom ladder rung. The rung holder channel in Currie is a substantially rectangular part with open bottom to receive a ladder rung, which engages with the bottom rung of the ladder once the spike is forced into the ground with a foot support attachment which is rigidly fixed to the body of the rung holder. Note that in Currie, which is essentially the Hankins invention without the telescoping section, if the ladder feet were to sink into soft ground that the bottom rung would disengage from the channel via movement downward thus rendering the ladder stabilizer ineffective.
Continuing in the prior art in U.S. Pat. No. 5,890,560 to Sloop disclosed is a ladder stabilizing device that is adapted for attachment to a ladder and to a fixed structure, i.e. see pole in FIG. 1, for holding the ladder in a stable condition on a supporting surface adjacent to the structure preferably in the form of a pole, wherein the ladder stabilizing device is in tension only as between the ladder and the pole, see element 26 being a strap as shown in FIG. 1. In Sloop, the ladder includes a base, a pair of laterally spaced side rails, and a plurality of vertically spaced and laterally extending rungs connected to the side rails. The ladder stabilizing device in Sloop includes an elongate ladder locking member with a pair of spaced-apart locking grips for being releasably locked in laterally spaced relation onto one of the rungs of the ladder. An elongate attachment member in Sloop is rigidly coupled at a first end with the ladder locking member and the opposite second end of the attachment member is adapted for being secured to the fixed structure or pole.
A releasable fastener in Sloop is located at the second end of the attachment member for releasably attaching the stabilizing device to the fixed structure or pole. In Sloop, the fastener and locking grips cooperate to resist pivoting movement of the ladder about either of the side rails from the bifurcated structure at 34A and 35A, see FIG. 3, and to maintain the base of the ladder in a fixed and stable position on the supporting surface. Note that in Sloop, if the ladder feet were to sink into soft ground that the ladder stabilizing device would slacken from its tension state, thus rendering the ladder stabilizer ineffective, especially in the area of unstable ladder pivotal movement along its long axis, as there is no stability effect (i.e. fighting the pivotal movement) from the pole like there would be from the ladder leaning as against a conventional flat surface structure.
Further in the prior art, in U.S. Pat. No. 7,743,886 to Feemster, Jr., et al., disclosed is a representative system that incorporates a ladder stabilizing assembly that includes a mount, a frame, and a spike, being somewhat similar to Currie. The mount in Feemster is configured to attach to a ladder rung and the ground surface. The frame in Feemster extends from the mount and is movable between a stowed position for transporting the ladder, in which the frame is located adjacent the ladder, and an un-stowed position, in which the frame extends outwardly from the ladder.
The spike in Feemster extends from the frame and is operative to be driven into the ground such that, when the frame is in the un-stowed position and the spike is driven into the ground, the ladder stabilizing assembly provides support to the ladder as in the same manner as Currie. Note that in Feemster, which also is essentially the Hankins invention without the telescoping section as disclosed in Feemster FIG. 1, if the ladder feet were to sink into soft ground that the bottom rung would disengage from a ladder rung channel mount 115 via ladder movement downward, thus rendering the ladder stabilizer ineffective.
What is needed is a ladder support that can accommodate the special interface that is needed to help secure the ladder foot to the lower roof without a permanent attachment or hole or opening left in the lower roof, as opposed to penetrable ground anchors. Further a ladder support needs to secure of the ladder foot to the lower roof, all in a manner that is lightweight, portable, and easy to install and uninstall.